KUSAMA KIDS

My very favorite thing about Artfully Awear is seeing how others are inspired to create their own wearable art.  Leila and Jonah, along with their mother Stephanie, created these fabulous polka-dotted shirts for their visit to the Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum. Stephanie said they were inspired by my Artfully Awear ensembles.  In her words, "The exhibit is so interactive already and interacting with your clothing brings it to the next level."  Have you ever seen a more adorable duo?!  It looks like Leila and Jonah had a blast wearing their Kusama shirts in her infinity rooms!

Have you created any wearable art?  I would love to see it!  Use the hashtag #ArtfullyAwear on social media to share your creations.

INFINITE KUSAMA

I've exulted about Yayoi Kusama many times over the years (here, here, and here), most recently when I created a dress inspired by her Pumpkin at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.  Pumpkin was a precursor to her exhibition, Infinity Mirrors, which opened today at the museum in Washington, DC.  I had the pleasure of touring the exhibition along with the press, and got to spend time in each of her otherworldly infinity rooms with my old friend Rosh, who had agreed to take photos.  For the occasion, I made another outfit: this spotted jumpsuit inspired by Infinity Mirror Room - Phalli's Field (1965-66).  To my astonishment, another museum-goer, Deane Madsen, also dressed in red polka dots!  Matching other art lovers is becoming more and more common (as evidenced in my last post, from LACMA).  I love that more people are using clothing as a way to express their love for art!

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors is open at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden through May 14, 2017.

Photos by Roshan Patel and Deane Madsen.

YAYOI KUSAMA'S PUMPKIN AT THE HIRSHHORN

Yayoi Kusama is the most popular artist in the world.  Although I've seen and experienced her work many times over the years (here, here, and here are just a few), I still get excited each time I hear of some new Kusama experience.

When the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden unveiled Kusama's Pumpkin, 1994, a precursor to her retrospective exhibition Yayoi Kusama: Infinite Mirrors, I got to work making a spotted dress to coordinate with the 8-foot-tall sculpture.

Kusama sees pumpkins as universal symbols, and even uses them as self-portraits.  She has been quoted as saying,"Polka dots are fabulous," and this artwork combines two of her most well-known motifs: a spotted pumpkin becomes a stand-in for Kusama herself and also her vision of the world.

Kusama has suffered from hallucinations since she was a child, and her artwork is meant to show the world as she sees it.  I experienced a glimpse into her world while I was painting the spots on this dress: the repeating pattern made me slightly dizzy and nauseous at times, and when I looked away from the dress I could occasionally see a polka-dotted pattern continuing in my field of vision.  In those moments, I felt that I was connecting with Kusama's work in a deeper way, and in some part understanding what it is like to be her.

"Forget yourself.  Become one with eternity.  Become part of your environment." --Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama: Infinite Mirrors opens at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden on February 23, 2017.

Photos by William Sealy.

GIVE ME LOVE

Yayoi Kusama's Give Me Love, on view now at David Zwirner Gallery, has me seeing spots.

Upon entering the gallery, which is fully open to the street, you are confronted with a little house which is furnished completely in white, from floor to ceiling.  Each visitor is given a sheet of polka dot stickers, and you are encouraged to use all of them to decorate obliterate the space.  

Also accompanying the Obliteration Room are some of Kusama's pumpkins as well as a number of paintings in the space next door.  It's difficult to be unhappy while surrounded by colorful spots, and to be able to participate in the madness makes it that much more fun.

Give Me Love is on view through June 13 at 519 and 525 West 19th Street in NYC.

Dress: Vintage, with dot stickers

Shoes: The Kooples

Photos by Kathy Paciello.

YAYOI KUSAMA: Love Is Calling

Dubbed "Rain Room, Part Deux", Yayoi Kusama's I Who Have Arrived in Heaven at David Zwirner in Chelsea has been drawing sizable crowds to 19th Street.  A big fan of Kusama's work (in particular, her infinity rooms), I set out to Chelsea on Saturday afternoon, unprepared for the amusement park-like queues that greeted me.

Since Fireflies on the Water at the Whitney Museum last year, I skipped the line for the similar work Infinity Mirrored Room -- The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away, which commanded the lengthiest line.  The separate line for Love is Calling, moved fairly quickly, and after about 20 minutes, I was admitted into the room for my one minute of viewing.

The experience is delightfully overwhelming, and includes a soundtrack of Kusama's voice penetrating the chamber.  The beautifully luminous tentacles form an environment almost like a seascape, but the sound and infinite reflections make it a bit unsettling.  Endlessness, a theme explored throughout much of Kusama's work, is most notably embodied by these installations, calling to mind the triviality of an individual within the universe.

If you've never experienced one of Kusama's infinity rooms, I recommend a visit to 19th Street, preferably on a weekday.

Have you had a chance to see the exhibition?  How did it make you feel?

Dress: Vintage

Boots: Ash

Handbag: Marc by Marc Jacobs

I Who Have Arrived in Heaven

David Zwirner Gallery

November 8 - December 21, 2013

Photos by Kathy Paciello.